Deathly Hallows Part I on November 19, 2010
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J.K. Rowling

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But one point she wanted to make had nothing to do with book seven. It was about her gratitude to the readers who've stuck with her and Harry for ten years now.

Meredith Vieira: It's got to be humbling in some ways, too.
J.K. Rowling: Yeah, totally. Funnily enough, just before Seven came out, I met two or three fans -- all who said the same thing to me. "I read the first one when I was ten. I read the first one when I was 11." And I'm now looking at 20-year-old men and women.
Meredith Vieira: What do you say to those fans? Because there are many who--
J.K. Rowling: I just say you can't imagine what that means to me. And they can't. They can't.
Meredith Vieira: Did you feel, in writing the seventh book, or any-- actually any one of them, but particularly the seventh-- a sense of responsibility to those fans?
J.K. Rowling: You know, it always-- well, yes. I definitely felt a sense of responsibility in that I wanted to make it the very, very, very best book I could. Because they were waiting for it and there was so much expectation. I am often asked, "Well, don't you feel guilty killing people, characters that kids love?" And-- it sounds horrible and heartless to say "no." But the truth is that when you're writing, you have to think only of what you're writing ... You must not sit there and think, "Well, I was going to kill Hagrid but, you know, people love him."
From the Today Show Transcript
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Wizards/Witches of the Month

Mini Biography

While on a train in 1990, she daydreamt of a boy called Harry Potter who was a wizard. For the next 6 years she wrote this book. This was the thing that started J.K. Rowling on her journey that would last a lifetime. She moved to Portugal to teach, where she met her first husband. Together, they had 1 child, Jessica Rowling born on July 27, 1993. She divorced him and moved her and her 3 month year old daughter back to Edinburgh, Scotland to be closer to her sister, Di. She finished the Harry Potter book, which was first written on pieces of scrap paper. She typed up a few copies, and sent it to 2 agents and 1 publishing company. One of the agents that she picked at random, loved the book and signed her on within 3 days. While still doing this, she worked as a teacher in Edinburgh. Several publishing companies turned her book down, before Bloomsbury published it in 1996. This book made her enough money to get by on. She worked very hard writing the rest of the Harry Potter series, which now 6 out of the 7 books in the series have been published. By the time that the 3rd book was out, she was a billionaire. In 2001, she bought a lovely large house in River Tay in Perthshire, Scotland. Here, she married her second and current husband Doctor Neil Murray on December 26, 2001.

Her name is Joanne Rowling, but Bloomsbury was not sure if boys would want to read a book published by a women; so they suggested that she went by 2 initials. She put the J, for her first name Joanne. Since she did not have a middle name, she chose the name of her favorite grandmother; Kathleen, therefore getting a K. That is where she got her writing name; J.K. Rowling.

In 2001, she was sued for supposedly taking characters from writer in the 1980's Nancy Stouffer. J.K. Rowling was ruled that she was innocent, and did not steal the characters.

She had her first child with her husband Neil Murray (her second child, his first) on March 23, 2003 in Edinburgh Her child is named David Gordon Rowling Murray. She took some time off to spend with her son and her daughter. Also, in 2005, she had her 3rd child; a baby girl named Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray. Rowling hopes to take some time off before writing the 7th book to spend time with her three children. She is currently richer than the Queen of England, and was the first to become a billionaire due to books. She is an influence to children across the globe, and is one of the best authors in the world.